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4 Possible Reasons Why Neymar Chose PSG Over Barca Stay

Neymar looks as though he could leave Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain this summer, but why is he going to swap one of the world’s most...

Neymar looks as though he could leave Barcelona for Paris
Saint-Germain this summer, but why is he going to swap one of the world’s most
successful clubs for a team that finished second in Ligue 1 last season and has
never won the Champions League?

We take a look...

After weeks of speculation, Gerard Pique appeared to ease
Barcelona fears when he posted a picture next to Neymar with the caption, “He
stays”.

Was that the final word? Had Pique heard that directly from
Neymar? Not quite. He has since backtracked, saying: “It’s not official. And it’s
not for me to say. It’s a personal opinion from the conversation I had with him
and my intuition.” The transfer saga of the summer rumbles on.

In an effort to end the speculation, Sky Sports Spanish
football expert Guillem Balague has said Barcelona asked the 25-year-old to
message the club’s fans on social media to make it clear he wants to stay. He
has not done that yet and what was once transfer gossip now looks like becoming
a real possibility.

“Doubts, doubts and more doubts” was a recent headline in
Catalan newspaper Sport, which added: “What really hurts is the silence of the
player himself, which in the end says a great deal.”

Role At Barcelona

When you are part of a superstar attacking trio you might
expect some sacrifice for the good of the team, but Neymar may feel he is
giving up more than his teammates.

Having hit the 20-goal mark in each of the prior two
seasons, he scored just 13 last term. Stationed on the left flank, he was
instead tasked with creating chances for Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, who
combined to score 66 goals.

He was also asked to track back - unlike Messi - taking on
what Balague described as a “selfless role for the team”. Are these grounds for
complaint? Sky Sports Spanish football expert Terry Gibson does not think so.

I don’t think it was a spectacular season for Neymar last
year and maybe one of the reasons Barcelona weren’t as successful was because
Neymar and Suarez both did not score as many goals as the previous season,” he
said.

He can’t complain about how he has been treated, where he
is playing or his role in the team. For a lot of people playing in that front
three is as good as it gets for a young player. He is 25, so he will step out
of the shadow of Messi, who is five years older.

Neymar’s time will come and I think Barcelona is the best
club for him. To take the opportunity to go to PSG, who are not as big
historically and don’t have the same quality of players, just to be the star
man and focus of attention is a strange choice.”

Becoming The Main
Man

Although he did not score as many goals last season as in
2015/16, Neymar did step up on several occasions to save Barcelona. That was
most famously the case against PSG in the Champions League, when Neymar scored
two, won a penalty and picked the pass for Sergi Roberto’s remarkable late goal
in the 6-1 win.

It was an inspired performance that suggested he could carry
a team, even one with Messi in the side. And he was perhaps the only Barca
player to emerge with credit from their 3-0 aggregate defeat to Juventus in the
semi-final.

Neymar completed 13 dribbles against Juve in the second leg
at the Nou Camp - the most in a Champions League game since 2014 - as Messi and
Suarez struggled to make an impact in a goalless draw.

He also impressed when given a larger role in the absence of
Messi. Neymar scored three in three games after the Argentine limped off
against Atletico Madrid in late September and hit 10 in nine without Messi the
season before.

He starred too against Granada in April, with Messi absent
through suspension, netting his 100th Barcelona goal.

That same month Balague said: “Neymar accepts, for now at
least, that Messi is still the main man”. Perhaps that is no longer the case.

A Sky source reports he has become frustrated at “playing
second fiddle” to Messi, telling Sky Sports News: “At the age of 25, he thinks
it is his time to win the Ballon d’Or.”

But Messi’s place atop the Barcelona hierarchy looks secure,
especially after agreeing a new four-year extension this summer.

If Neymar wants to lead a team and win a Ballon d’Or - like
Messi at Barca or Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid - he is unlikely to get the
chance at the Nou Camp in the immediate future.

But will his chances improve if he joins PSG? “As long as
Messi is still playing and Ronaldo is still knocking in the goals, how will he
win it?” asks Gibson.

“PSG would have to win the Champions League and he would
have to be the main player, and I would still put PSG quite a way down the list
to win the Champions League even with Neymar.”

Riches On Offer

There are also financial considerations. Neymar signed a new
Barca contract last summer but PSG would significantly improve those terms.

L’Equipe most recently claimed he will sign a six-year deal
worth £500,000-a-week in Paris, which would represent a large pay rise.

The prestige of the league, his commitment to Barca and the
chance for trophies are all valid factors to consider but cold, hard cash is
difficult to ignore.

Gibson says: “I know people are saying he wants to step out
of the shadow of Messi and be the main man somewhere, but I can only think it’s
about the money. He could have killed off this speculation a long time ago and
now it appears he is waiting to see if PSG can keep within the Financial Fair
Play rules to pay what he wants and the buyout.”

Many of Neymar’s close friends also play at the Parc des
Princes. Former Barca right-back Dani Alves has recently signed for the club,
while Thiago Silva, Marquinhos and Lucas Moura are his Brazil international
teammates.

On a reunion in the French capital, captain Silva said:
“I’ve heard a lot of journalists talking but at the minute there is nothing
concrete. But I think it is important for the PSG project. If he comes, it will
be good for the group.”

Marquinhos added: “If he comes he will be an exceptional
player and will help us a lot.”

PSG forward Edinson Cavani did his best to remain
circumspect when asked but he also said: “We are talking about a great player
and I think any player would like to play alongside any great player.”

Silva ‘liked’ a mocked-up picture of Neymar wearing a PSG
kit while Lucas Moura replied with a ‘thinking’ emoji when asked on Twitter if
he had any news about Neymar coming to PSG.

There is also the question of Neymar’s popularity at the Nou
Camp. A recent poll conducted by Sport found 82 per cent of Barca fans would
sell Neymar to PSG.

The ‘PSG Project’

The Parisian giants, humiliated by their capitulation in the
Champions League, also surrendered their domestic crown last season, failing to
win Ligue 1 for the first time since 2012.

They salvaged the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue but
in the words of club president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, it was “a difficult
campaign”.

Their signings - particularly Hatem Ben Arfa and Jese but
also Grzegorz Krychowiak - failed to shine, while they lost their focal point
in Zlatan Ibrahimovic. So this summer represents the chance to refresh what
Silva refers to as the “PSG project”.

“This club has so much ambition,” said Julian Draxler, one
of last season’s success stories after his big-money arrival from Wolfsburg in
January.

“They want to win the Champions League with all their might
and they do everything to achieve that: new players, a new training ground.

“The club really wants it. I think you can see from the
players we have that we are developing into one of the best clubs in Europe -
maybe we already are one of them.”

Could Neymar be tempted to join as the poster boy for a new
and improved Paris Saint-Germain? They boast a strong spine in Angel Di Maria,
Marco Verratti, Cavani and Silva, but the departure of Ibrahimovic a year ago
has the club looking for a figurehead.

That may well be the first task for their new sporting
director, Antero Henrique. He made his name unearthing gems like Radamel
Falcao, James Rodriguez, Hulk and Jackson Martinez while at Porto but his remit
will be very different at PSG.

“My ambition is to work every day to create a winning
dynamic able to keep PSG at the highest level in the long term,” Henrique said
when he joined in June.